Hi guys,

I am new with the Mavic Air and drones in gerneral, therefore, I am a beginner ;-)
I tried to film with my Mavic Air yesterday and in general, I am happy with the outcome altough I made some mistakes like filming in 1080p instead of 2.7k (I know about the quality issue during the first ski descend ;-))

However, there is a problem with the exposure that changes (flickers) during the filming. I was filming in automode and did use any filter. Is this flickering normal in automode? Do I have to film in manual mode to prevent this? Is there a way to get rid of it in video editing software like Premiere Pro? I am thankful for any tips!



Best regards

Did you have your exposure set to auto?? I reckon that looks like exposure changes???

Simmo1 Posted at 2018-3-5 02:29
Did you have your exposure set to auto?? I reckon that looks like exposure changes???

Yes, exposure was set to auto.
I am sorry, I meant exposure when I said brightness..

All good mate, you have some great subject matter to photograph and film!
I would perhaps have a look at what your scene and story portrays, then pick a manual exposure, if you are going to pass through so many changes as you did there??
Let some stuff go under, its dramatic! Try not to let much go over though....
Hey, I'm no pro, just my 2 'pennies' worth!

Thank you for your time Simmo.
I am sorry to say, but i am not  sure what you mean with this part of your post:
"if you are going to pass through so many changes as you did there??
Let some stuff go under, its dramatic! Try not to let much go over though...."

Can you explain it?

I cant think of any fixes in post for this as when it flickers it blows out some of the bright areas. Its not that bad in the video though and to average viewer they probably wouldn't even notice it as the video itself is engaging.

For the future though, In my opinion I would have set up manually on this one. 2.7k@60, ND32/64 to get ISO 200 at a shutter of 120 (gives me a little bit of wiggle room for exposure (iso 100-200) while I'm in the air and manual white balance.

The auto mode is still a bit unreliable on the Mavic Air. Hopefully they will fix it in the future.

Thank you Malakai!
Can you recommend a filter set that includes ND32?

leichti_ Posted at 2018-3-5 04:58
Thank you Malakai!
Can you recommend a filter set that includes ND32?

I picked up a set for my mavic pro on amazon, got polarised ND8, 16 and 32 for about £8 each.

Just ordered ND8, 16 and 32 individually for the Mavic Air, again, for about £8 each on amazon.
I have an ND4 for the Pro but it never got used but the 8/16/32 do so sticking with them.
You can go high end and get the polar pro filters but they cost way more and for the amount mine get used, I couldn't justify the high price. Its not like I'm making blockbuster movies with my footage.

leichti_ Posted at 2018-3-5 04:58
Thank you Malakai!
Can you recommend a filter set that includes ND32?

I use a set of Polar Pro & Bowers on my P4P & MP, ND4 - ND16, I have a 32 but rarely use it except for those occasion where I have high reflection off of water in certain scenes, a 16 is sufficient for snow and bright white objects.  Always shoot in manual mode (it will take a bit of practice as every shoot is different than the last) this will keep the exposure consistant and easily corrected in post editing.

QuadKid Posted at 2018-3-5 07:51
I use a set of Polar Pro & Bowers on my P4P & MP, ND4 - ND16, I have a 32 but rarely use it except for those occasion where I have high reflection off of water in certain scenes, a 16 is sufficient for snow and bright white objects.  Always shoot in manual mode (it will take a bit of practice as every shoot is different than the last) this will keep the exposure consistant and easily corrected in post editing.

Yeah, I mostly use 8/16 the 32 is for those really bright days or if I'm shooting into the sun. I have no practical use for an ND64... yet... lol
I do have a ND Variable for my Phantom 3 Adv and I must admit, if they made them for the Mavic Pro/Air I would snap one up straight away.

Dirty Bird (post 11#) is correct. Auto flickers a little as it tries to transition between different light settings.  

But all in all the video was spectacular.   

Just need to add some music for that dramatic affect.

Thanks for sharing and I hope we see more of your work.

This is normal in my opinion, when you shoot in Auto Mode, the exposure will change automatically when the brightness of the scenery changes, you can try to lock the auto exposure by pressing the screen.

sorry for this issue happend, we will release a new firmware with log fetch function. with this function we will find the reason for this issue

charlesetischer Posted at 2018-3-16 06:01
sorry for this issue happend, we will release a new firmware with log fetch function. with this function we will find the reason for this issue

Good news!  Hope you can release new firmware soon, because auto mode is truly unusable as is.